‘Black Health Matters:’ Latest protest in Durham organized by health care workers

About 300 physicians, medical workers and other supporters gathered at Durham’s Central Park on Saturday to bring attention to racial inequality in health care.

It was the latest Durham protest responding to George Floyd’s death and other police killings of African Americans. The Durham protesters lay on the ground in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, representing the time a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck.

The protesters gathered along Foster Street at 1 p.m. holding “Black Lives Matter,” signs, with variations such as “Black Health Matters,” “Black Futures Matter” and “White Coats for Black Lives.”

Passing cars honked approval.

Shortly after 1, the rally crossed Foster to get to the park’s shelter, where two UNC-Chapel Hill students shared their experiences with race as medical students.

Second-year medical student Candace Barr read reports from medical professionals who responded to an anonymous survey she conducted recently. One doctor heard from her scheduling agent that patients would ask her race. When they learned it, they asked to schedule with another clinician.

Richard Beckett-Ansa, also a second-year medical student, went through a list of demands for medical students, including ready access to black mental health professionals, mandatory racial bias training for professors and a record of the schools’ histories of racism.

‘Illness can become wellness’

He ended his speech on a positive note, though, saying, “When ‘I’ is replaced with ‘we,’ even illness can become wellness.”

The rally then made its way down Foster, with chants of “Black lives matter,” “Do no harm” and “White silence is compliance.”

Sean Hunter, a physical therapist from Durham, said Floyd’s death was part of the reason he came out, but not the only one.

“It started with George Floyd, and began building,” he said. “It’s been going on for too long. It’s time to get out and do something about it.”

Teens organized another Durham rally

Another 400 peaceful protesters gathered at CCB Plaza at the corner of East Chapel Hill and Corcoran streets shortly after the medical workers rally was winding down. The rally was organized by two 13-year-old friends, Beautiful Green, a ninth-grader, and Morgan Johnson, an eighth-grader.

The crowd heard from local pastors, with Andy Thompson, the founder and senior pastor of World Overcomers Christian Church in Durham, closing out the afternoon.

“For an African American man who is in his 50s,” Thompson said, “it is so powerful to know that so many of you have had enough.”

With campuses in both Raleigh and Durham, World Overcomers is the largest predominantly black church in the Triangle.

Thompson added that he was glad to see a large contingent of white people at the rally, a sign that the Black Lives Matter movement was spreading.

After Thompson spoke, there was a lull for about half and hour, then the protesters that remained began marching down Foster Street, circling back around to Corcoran and returning to CCB Plaza. There was no police presence at either rally until that march, and even then it was minimal.

Green, who goes to the School for Creative Studies, said she and Johnson were watching the news one night and thought they would like to do something to change the condition of the world. Johnson goes to Voyager Academy.

Green said it was an emotional day, with a lot of crying, but a good day.

Four fired officers have been charged with Floyd’s death, one with second-degree murder, the others with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, The Associated Press reported. Floyd, 46, was a Fayetteville native who honored with a memorial service near Raeford at the same time as the Durham rally.

Protests of Floyd’s death and the deaths of other African American men have led to violence in cities around the country and clashes between protesters and police. But in Durham, protests have mostly happened without property damage or injuries, and largely with a hands-off approach from police, The News & Observer reported.

One exception was vandalism of storefronts late Monday night after most protesters had left. There were also tensions between protesters and police over a car that approached demonstrators lying on a street Wednesday before turning around.

This story was originally published June 6, 2020 at 5:28 PM.